Magnetic temporary vessel



July 17, 1956 H. CAREW MAGNETIC TEMPORARY VESSEL 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 16. 1952 ffivenf'mrn- \Herman 'Carew' Hffys July 17, 1956 H. CAREW 2,755,011

MAGNETIC TEMPORARY VESSEL Filed July 16. 1952 I -2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J57 val-7123f Herman (anew 9 M by Eli 575 United States Patent O MAGNETIC TEMPORARY VESSEL Herman Carew, Easton, Pa., assignor to Dixie Cup Company, Easton, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application July 16, 1952, Serial No. 299,208

3 Claims. (Cl. 229-) This invention relates to improvements in a magnetic paper vessel, and more particularly to a paper cup, dish, or the like, of the character commonly discarded after a single usage, which is provided with means whereby the vessel may be held in a holder or other location by magnetic attraction, although the invention may have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

In the past, many and various types of temporary vessels such as paper cups, dishes, and the like, have been provided. These have frequently been used in holders in soda fountains, restaurants, and similar places where sodas, sundaes, and other foods and soft drinks are served. Heretofore, some of the cups, especially drinking and soda cups, if they are provided with means to facilitate engagement by retaining devices in the holders, were provided with such means entirely different from a sundae dish. Also, heretofore, insofar as the cup itself was concerned, it was virtually impossible to insure uniform engagement with a holder of a series of cups, to say nothing of insuring uniform engagement by the holder regardless of who handled the holder when a cup was picked up or regardless of how much pressure was utilized by the operator in handling the holder at different times. Also, heretofore in no instance of which I am aware, has a full complement of paper drinking cups, soda cups, sundae dishes, and the like, conical or flat bottom in character, been provided wherein the same principle and same general means could be employed to engage the cup in the holder against temporary dislodgement regardless of the shape of the cup or the holder. Further, in no instance of which I am aware has a paper cup or the like ever been equipped with any means to render it responsive to magnetic attraction.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instant invention to provide a temporary vessel which may be made in the form of a paper drinking cup, soda cup, sundae dish, or the like, truly conical, conical with a widely blunted apex, or flat bottomed in character and which is equipped with means to insure uniform engagement with the holder each and every time the holder is used.

A further object of the instant invention is the provision of a paper cup equipped with means to insure uniform engagement with a holder to retain the cup against accidental dislodgement from the holder, which engagement is consistently uniform in character regardless of how much pressure is used in initially uniting a cup and holder, and regardless of how many different operators effect such engagement.

It is also a feature of this invention to provide a temporary paper vessel which may be made in a multitude of different shapes, but which is so constructed that regardless of its shape it may be connected with a holder in the same manner and by the same means.

Still a further object of the invention is the provisionof a temporary vessel, such as a paper cup or the like,

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provided with means to render it responsive to magnetic attraction.

Also a desideratum of the invention is the provision of a paper cup, dish, or the like, provided with magnetic means so that it may be retained in a holder against accidental dislodgement by magnetic attraction.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a view of a paper cup embodying principles of the instant invention, shown in operative position in a holder, the cup being illustrated in side elevation, and the holder in central vertical section;

Figure 2 is a reduced bottom plan view of the cup of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view through the apical portion of the cup;

Figure 4 is a view of a cup of different size and shape, embodying principles of the instant invention, showing the cup in operative position in the holder, with the cup illustrated partially in central vertical section and partially in side elevation, and the holder illustrated in central vertical section;

Figure 5 is a reduced bottom plan view of the cup of' Fig. 4; and

Figure 6 is a side elevational view of a paper cup of i still different shape, but embodying principles of the in-- stant invention.

As shown on the drawings:

Herein and in the appended claims, where a temporary"- vessel is referred to as a paper cup for purposes of con--- venience and clarity, it is to be understood that the: term cup includes drinking cups, soda cups, sundae dishes,. fruit salad dishes, and vessels of such character, both. conical and flat bottom in shape, and regardless of whether or not the contents are drank or spooned therefrom.

It is also to be understood that the term paper is inclusive of equivalent material, sufliciently economical in character to warrant discarding of the vessel after one or a very few uses.

In Figs. 1, 2 and 3 I have illustrated a paper vessel in the character of a soda cup, conical in shape. The cup is indicated by numeral 1, and may be made in any suitable manner, cups of this character usually being rolled from a single blank of material of a predetermined shape. The particular manner in which the cup is constructed forms no part of the instant invention, but the cup is provided with magnetic means, or in other words, the cup carries magnetic material in a predetermined location. The magnetic material may be provided in or on the cup in numerous ways, and it may be disposed in dilferent locations. By way of illustration and not by way of limitation, I have shown the cup as carrying magnetic means 2 on its external surface in the apical region. In the illustrated instance, this magnetic means or material 2 may be in the form of ferromagnetic particles held by a suitable binder, such as a thermosetting plastic, or adhesive. The mass or patch 2 of magnetic means may be applied to the cup by dipping the apical portion of the cup in a liquid mass carrying ferromagnetic particles, and thereafter permitting the mass to dry on the cup, or the magnetic material itself may be provided in the form of a tape or ribbon, pieces severed therefrom and secured to the cup. The magnetic means is preferably applied to the external surface of the cup, so as to leave at least one or in most instances a plurality of layers of paper between the magnetic material on one cup and the magnetic ma terial on a cup nested inside that first cup. The binder carrying the ferromagnetic particles might also have alayer or lamination free of the ferromagnetic particles between those particles and the cup upon which they are mounted. This arrangement is preferable so that when a terminal cup is removed from a stack of nested cups by magnetic attraction, only one cup will be removed at a time.

To illustrate the use of the cup, I have shown a holder 3, tubular in character, to define therein a cup receiving cavity 4. In the throat portion 5 of the holder, above the base 6, a permanent magnet 7 is mounted, this magnet being recessed in its upper surface as indicated at it, in keeping with the shape of the apical end of the cup, and also forming in effect a continuation of the wall of the cavity 4.

Obviously, the holder would be provided with a magnet in the throat portion or at the bottom of the cup receiving cavity when the magnetic means 2 is carried on the apical or bottom end of the cup. Otherwise, if the magnetic means is carried by the cup in some other location, the magnet would be incorporated with the holder so as to be disposed in attractive association with those magnetic means when the cup is properly seated in the holder.

With this arrangement, it will be seen that a holder may be grasped by the base, held in inverted position, pressed over the terminal or uppermost cup on a stack of nested inverted cups, and the terminal cup will be properly seated in the holder, and removed along with the holder by magnetic attraction, which will hold the cup against accidental dislodgement during its use.

By such ararngement, it will be noted that the cup is provided with means to insure a uniform engagement by the holder, and the uniformity of that engagement will be consistent throughout the use of a holder on numerous cups, both as to character and power of retention. The means on the cup itself prevent any one cup from being held more securely or less securely in a holder than any other cup of the same shape and size.

In Fig. 4, I have illustrated a cup 8 of the sundae dish variety, and this cup is provided with a downwardly angled marginal flange 9 around the mouth thereof, and with a flat bottom 10. On that fiat bottom 10, on the external side thereof, magnetic means 11 are secured, and these magnetic means may be of the same character as above described. The patch or disk of magnetic means need not extend over the entire surface of the cup bottom 10, as illustrated, but may be of lesser size and disposed in a judicious location directly opposite the holder magnet when the cup is seated in the holder.

To illustrate the use of this cup, I have shown a holder having a body portion 12, a throat portion 13 and a base portion 14. The body portion 12 defines therein a cup receiving cavity 15 and a transverse portion of the holder provides a flat bottom for this cavity as indicated at 16. Mounted in that transverse portion is a magnet 17 having its upper face flush with the bottom 16. With this holder, the cup may be removed from a stack of inverted nested cups in the same manner as above described, and again each and every cup will be uniformly held by the holder regardless of how much pressure is used in the various manipulations of the holder, and regardless of which operator manipulates the holder. It will be noted herein that a sundae dish of flat bottom character by virtoe of its own individual construction may be picked up and retained in a holder in identically the same way and by the same means as a cup of any other shape, such as a conical drinking cup. In the past that has not been done.

In Fig. 6 I have illustrated a conical cup of the dish type. 'i'his cup 13, having a downwardly angled flange 19 around the mouth thereof, terminates in a substantially pointed apex, and is provided with magnetic means 20 in the apical region in the same general manner as the cup shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3. For a cup such as shown in Fig. 6, a holder of the general shape of that seen in Fig. 4 would be utilized, with the exception that the cavity in the holder would be of conical character, without a fiat bottom, and the upper face of the magnet would preferably be recessed or countersunk in keeping with the apical formation of the cup. The cup of Fig. 6 is picked up and retained in the holder in the same manner as those above described.

It will further be noted that each and all of the cups may be economically manufactured, the comparatively negligible additional expense of providing the magnetic means being offset by the considerable advantages provided by the use of cups of this character, especially where cups of different size and shape have to be utilized in the same establishment.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. As an article of manufacture, a conical single usage paper vessel, and magnetic means carried by said vessel in the apical region thereof.

2. As an article of manufacture, a conical single usage paper vessel, and ferromagnetic particles held by a suitable binder disposed over the apical end of said vessel.

3. An article of manufacture comprising a vessel that is dish-shaped to form a container of the single usage type and formed of light weight flexible paper and having a bottom area coated with ferromagnetic particles so as to be capable of being picked up by a magnetic holder, the combined paper and ferromagnetic material being flexible so that the vessel will readily attach itself to the surface of a magnetic body engaging the vessel and influencing the position thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 425,768 Ezell Apr. 15, 1890 1,239,277 Klin Sept. 4, 1917 1,654,554 Pasch Jan. 3, 1928 2,147,482 Butler Feb. 14, 1939 2,192,569 Williams Mar. 5, 1940 2,217,514 Henry Oct. 8, 1940 2,436,607 Rosenthal Feb. 24, 1948 

